writing resource
The first quarter has come and gone, seemingly as fast as a cobbler elf in the night. So now we’re here, early April, and it’s time to review what I completed and what’s coming next. You can learn more about my goals process from the January post.
reviews
I wrote a short review on Goodreads for Catriona Ward’s novel, The Last House on Needless Street. It’s early in the year, but there’s a good chance this is my book of the year. Similar to my favorite book in 2021, Stephen Graham Jones’s My Heart
design
I set goals most quarters, and January often sets the tone for the year. Writing goals can feel like starting a mini-story. I’m the character, I jot down what I want to achieve, and then, like a fun first draft, I set out to see how the story unfolds.
writing advice
I recently had the privilege of chatting with author Mark Stay on one of my favorite writing podcasts, The Bestseller Experiment. We briefly discuss why I joined the Bestseller Academy for a spell, how it surrounded me with a much-needed creative community, and we talk about my finished novel manuscript.
writing resource
While doing research or writing early drafts of a new story, I often enjoy playing music that matches the tale’s atmosphere. At least, what I think the atmosphere will be, as I don’t typically outline, and my early assumptions about the story may change—except for the original
writing advice
This entry turned out longer than expected. I had planned to write about a small piece of good writing news, but I found that the backstory was relevant, and important for me personally, to jot down. So here we go. # Once, before I understood query letters and the amount of
design
It’s been hectic, to say the least. Life in general has been. I’ll add more color to that claim later, but most of my sabbatical goals have been thrown for a loop. Disappointing, but it’s not all bad news around these parts. The good news is that
health
I helped create a sabbatical benefit with the company I work for, and I am using the benefit mid-July through mid-October. I was the sixth hire and have been at the company almost nine years. Contributing to growing the business and devoting myself to learn as much as I could—
learnings
I’m writing an article about star ratings, the ambiguity of them, mainly focused on how they fail readers. While writing the piece, I’ve read a number of articles for research. Several are linked to in the article, but not all. I’m sharing most of them here for
health
I’m writing an article about star ratings and creating designs. This week, I had planned to share links to interesting resources I found, while researching the topic, but with Roe v. Wade being overturned, I’m sharing five abortion healthcare resources instead. When your health is at risk, not
learnings
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1600"] Image from Wikimedia Commons. [https://www.mattathanasiou.com/caption] I remember our first date. I started watching Peaky Blinders because, in addition to the dark, atmospheric setting, the opening credits uses the song Red Right Hand by my
design
I wrote in a previous entry that I designed too many versions of this site and wanted to stop. While that entry talks about how I ended up with the current iteration, I saved several of the unused versions. Here are a few mock-ups of those iterations, along with brief